66 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Latitude at noon 42 45' N., longitude 68 05' W. At 3 p. m. there was a light southwest breeze. 

 We saw a fisherman bound to the westward. It began to snow in the evening. 



Monday, February 18, 1878. The snow fell thick during the past night. The wind, however, 

 continued moderate, but veered around until at 8 a. m. it was NNE. The weather began to clear 

 at this time. Barometer 29.65. The wind steadily increased during the day until it blew heavy 

 in the afternoon. At 10 a. m. the main-staysail sheet parted and we hauled the sail down and did 

 not set it again. At 2.30 p. m. we clewed np the gaff-topsail. At 4 p. m. double-reefed mainsail 

 and took the bonnet out of the jib, and at 5 o'clock we double-reefed the foresail. We saw a 

 vessel at anchor at 4.30 p. m. The air grew cold in the afternoon, and the sky had a wild wintry 

 look. At 7 p. m. it blew a strong gale and there was a very sharp sea running. We took the 

 mainsail in, and furled it, and let the vessel run under her reefed foresail and jib. At 8 p. m. 

 shipped a sea which stove one of the dories. 



Tuesday, February 19, 1878. At 1 o'clock a. m. we took in the jib and furled it, and ran under 

 a double-ree'fed foresail. It was blowing a smart gale at this time. The cold had increased and 

 the vessel was making considerable ice. At 8 a. m. the wind had moderated, but still the tem- 

 perature was lower than it had been during the night. I think it was colder than I have seen it 

 before this winter. We set the jib and riding-sail at 8.30 a. m. At 2.30 p. m. the wind and sea 

 had decreased very considerably, though it still blew hard and was so cold that where any spray 

 struck it froze. We began beating the ice off the foresail at this time, and at 3 o'clock we shook 

 the reef out. After we got the foresail up, we pounded some of the ice off the rigging, sails, &c. 

 At 9 p. m. we set the mainsail, shot to, and sounded in 56 fathoms oh the Western Bank. 



Wednesday, February 20, 1878. This morning there was a fine northerly breeze. We began 

 to beat off the ice at daylight, and at 8 a. m. set the light sails. Our latitude at noon was 42 13' 

 N., longitude 60 14' W. Longitude, by observation at 4 p. m., 59 34' W. The wind in the 

 afternoon and evening backed to KW. and, toward midnight, was light and puffy. 



Thursday, February 21, 1878. There was a light WSW. breeze during the first half of this 

 day, and the air was much warmer than it had been, so that the ice began to melt and fall off the 

 rigging and rails. The wind kept backing gradually until at 6 p. m. it was south. It began to 

 snow soon after noon and was quite thick all the rest of the day. We took in the gaff-topsail and 

 furled it at 5 p. m. The wind still continued to back against the sun, until 11 p. m. when it was 

 NNE., fresh and puffy. 



Friday, February 22, 1878. The wind in the first of the morning backed to north and blew 

 up heavy. We took in the mainsail and furled it at 4, and reefed the foresail at 5 a. m. At 8.30 

 a. m it blew a strong gale. We took in the jib and furled it and hove to. The barometer at this 

 time was on 30.15, which is higher than I ever saw it before when it blew a gale like this. At 3.30 

 p. m. the gale moderated some and veered to NNE. We loosed the jib and set it, and bent the 

 riding sail, so that we could keep on our course. The barometer at this time had risen to 30.40. 

 The wind blew very heavy, and there was a bad sea, in the latter part of this p. m. 



Saturday, February 23, 1878. At 6 a. m. it was still blowing a strong breeze, though consider- 

 ably less than during last night. The Marion behaved splendidly under her short sail, and made 

 an average of 4 knots, which is very good in such a gale, considering that we had to keep close to 

 the wind. At noon we shook the reef out of the foresail. At 3 p. m. we came to anchor in 100 fath- 

 oms on the western edge of the Grand Bank. It was rough, and still blowing strong, and the 

 weather was hazy and drizzly when we anchored. We repaired the dory which was stove on the 

 passage. I noticed that we came into white water 25 or 30 miles westward of the Bank, which is 



